By Victor Trammell America is a nation of disproportions. Though the young nation is becoming more diverse, blacks are still experiencing hardships at a rate higher than other ethnic groups. There is an old adage about race that uses illness as an analogy. It states: When whites get a cold, blacks get the flu. Last week’s jobs report by the U.S. Department of Labor (USDL) would prove the aforementioned analogy to be true if you characterized unemployment as an illness. According to the USDL’s data, the black unemployment rate was 13.2 percent compared to 6.8 percent for whites. This is an unfortunate reality that has existed since the government started keeping records of such data in 1972. It is also worth noting that the black unemployment rate is well above the national average, which is around 8 percent. Discrimination is the primary factor behind such disturbing data. Recent research by scholars leads to the theory that blacks also lack the social connections needed to acquire and maintain quality employment. Deidre A. Royster, a sociologist at New York University quoted the following about this issue in an interview with the Washington Post : “It is surprising to many people how important job networks are to finding work. The information they provide help people make a good first impression, get through screening and get hired.” (The Washington Post) President Obama has been prodded by numerous black leaders to endorse an agenda that brings attention to the disproportionate ills black Americans experience in employment and in the criminal justice system. As his second term begins, the President has a chance to be on a favorable side of history by at least addressing the economic disparties of black America. Otherwise, blacks will be justified in believing that such a terrible reality is by design.

New Jobs Report Reveals Black Unemployment Rate Is Still Twice The Rate of Whites

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America is a nation of disproportions. Though the young nation is becoming more diverse, blacks are still experiencing hardships at a rate higher than other ethnic groups. There is an old adage about race that uses illness as an analogy. It states: When whites get a cold, blacks get the flu.

Last week’s jobs report by the U.S. Department of Labor (USDL) would prove the aforementioned analogy to be true if you characterized unemployment as an illness. According to the USDL’s data, the black unemployment rate was 13.2 percent compared to 6.8 percent for whites.